When her son announced that he was quitting college to work for a company that produced video-game tournaments, Linda Puckett freaked out.

“Who can pay their rent by playing games?” she said. “I thought, 'Great, he’s going to be 42 years old and still living in my basement.’”

Eleven years later, Chris Puckett, 31, is not living in the basement of his parents’ Pickerington home.

Instead, he lives in Manhattan, a few blocks from the headquarters of his employer, MLG (Major League Gaming).

He travels the country as a commentator for “esports” tournaments, such as the Call of Duty World League tournament taking place through July at the MLG gaming center on the East Side of Columbus.

On a recent Friday night, Chris Puckett wore a coat and tie and sat alongside three other announcers as they discussed the matchups and analyzed each team’s strengths — just like one would hear before a football or baseball game.

At stake in this tournament: $700,000, which helps illustrate the explosive growth in the esports industry.

Clearly, Puckett made the right decision.

“Little did I know this was going to be a wonderful thing,” Mrs. Puckett said.

From an early age, Puckett loved video games. His parents (Jeff is his father) recall him playing until he had blisters on his fingers.

His first motivation, he said, was beating his older brother, Jon, in something. (He also has a younger sister, Melanie.)

In high school at Pickerington Central, gaming provided an outlet for his competitiveness that he could not find in sports.

“I was the second-slowest runner on our cross country team,” he said.

By age 17, he was helping organize local and regional Halo tournaments. Through online forums, Puckett also became an advocate for better-organized tournaments that paid more prize money.

That caught the eye of Sundance DiGiovanni, who along with Michael Sepso co-founded MLG in 2002. They paid Puckett to run tournaments, which he did on weekends for two years as he finished high school and started at Ohio University.

In February 2006, MLG — at the time, a fledgling company with “a handful” of employees, DiGiovanni said — extended the offer to come work in New York full time, where he would market and produce tournaments.

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Puckett was midway through his sophomore year at college and had just been accepted into a fraternity.

“It was a really difficult decision,” Puckett said. “I went through all this work to get into a frat; I was living with my best friend, and now I had to leave everything I knew and loved behind.

“And at the time, no one was making money in esports yet. Taking the job was not a sure bet.”

As he settled into his new job and learned more about event production, Puckett said he began to stress making sure the cameras focused on players during emotional moments or on teams that were about to win a game.

When commentating, he considers himself a storyteller.

“Every new event, there are new storylines, new teams, new challenges,” he said. “I have very powerful ADD (attention-deficit disorder), so for me, the gaming world moves so fast, there’s always something to keep me interested.”

DiGiovanni said Puckett has become the face of the company during the past decade.

“When you’re building a business that has got to produce so much content, you’re looking for an anchor — someone you know you can trust with the brand,” said DiGiovanni, 44. “Chris has always shined when the lights are on. He’s a steady hand and a recognizable face and has a lot of passion.

“Our audience has grown up watching him.”

The industry has grown up as well. According to the research firm Newzoo, esports revenue reached $325 million in 2015 and is expected to top $1 billion by 2019.

Tournaments sell out arenas. The 2016 World Finals for the League of Legends — one of the most popular video games — drew 43 million viewers (online and live television combined) during its five-week run in several American cities. By comparison, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory in Game 7 of the NBA Finals that year attracted 31 million TV viewers.

Also in 2016, DiGiovanni and Sepso sold MLG to Activision Blizzard, a company that develops games, for $46 million. MLG is just one of a growing number of companies involved in esports, such as Electronic Arts, Tencent Holdings and YouTube.

What this means for Puckett is job security for the foreseeable future.

“He used to joke that I was his retirement plan, that I would have to be the bread-winner,” said his wife, Molly, 32, who works in the fashion industry. “But now, I don’t think that will be the case.

“You have to hand it to him, he’s doing what he loves for a living.”

Back in Pickerington, Jeff and Linda Puckett are thrilled to see their son’s career gamble pay off.

They came to visit with Puckett during breaks in the Columbus tournament, chatting with him in the “green room” where announcers rest between matches.

“People will ask me, 'Is your son still doing that gaming thing?’” Mr. Puckett said. “And I’ll say, 'Yeah, he still is, and it just keeps getting bigger.’

“It has been a fun ride for us all.”

kgordon@dispatch.com

@kgdispatch

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